Revelation

I had a very close encounter with the German health service this morning.

Not my blood pressure problem. D had been suffering pain in her shoulder joint, thought to be a recurrence of a calcification problem.

She had a bad night, so I dragged her off to casualty at the local general hospital in Murnau am Staffelsee as soon as we'd had an early coffee.

The hospital was amazing. Clean, organised, calm... the complete antithesis of an NHS one. The emergency department was like a business class lounge in an airport.

We were in and out in 90 minutes - after assessment, x-ray, examination by an orthopaedic specialist, an injection into the joint, prescription and (astonishingly) the x-rays burned onto a CD-ROM to take to D's own doctor back home.

The Blip is the view from the hospital car park.